


Superstore

by yaoyorozoops



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grocery Store, Alternate Universe - High School, Eren and Mikasa are siblings, M/M, Multi, being revised, honestly this fic is so cheesy and stupid, it's just a tease though Eruri is endgame, maybe manga spoilers, on hiatus until I decide I want to finish, ships are subject to change, teen for crude humor, there's some cringey Ereri parts in here so I apologize, wattpad-quality at best
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-15 23:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7242838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaoyorozoops/pseuds/yaoyorozoops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren and the others work together at a superstore. Of course, they cause shenanigans and annoy their boss, Erwin, and the janitor, Levi.</p><p>What happens when a cute blond boy named Armin is hired? Will everyone hate him or love him? Armin would really like to know that, especially what the cutest boy he'd ever seen thinks of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the overwhelming scent of windex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Super short first chapter. Basically a preview chapter.

I slammed the breaks of my light blue VW Beatle; I didn't want to miss the turn into the parking lot of my new workplace. I was so excited I didn't know what to think. "I'm going to meet new people. I'm going to make real friends like mom said. I'm going to be the best one in the business." I whispered under my breath as I pulled into the empty parking lot. My first day on the job.

I smiled, proud of myself for making it this far. I was only 16 and had my own job, my own paycheck. As I walked in the sliding doors of the huge store, my blond hair glistening with the florescent ceiling lights, I grinned cheesily and soon spotted the boss. Mr. Smith.

I breathed in the scent of stuffy changing rooms, assortments of various junk food, and the overwhelming smell of -- is that Windex?

Mr. Smith greeted me with a handshake and introduced himself (even though we'd met before). "Welcome to your new job. I hope you like it here." He seemed bored and ready to leave the place, but also genuinely enthusiastic about getting a new worker. "Eren! Can you teach our new employee what it is he's going to do around here?" Eren perked at the sound of his name. He was near the bathrooms shelving what looked to be Cheetos before he began walking towards me.

And I just need to say one thing...

Eren Yeager is gorgeous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this chapter is really short. But there are many more chapters to come. Thanks so much for reading, and sorry if this fic is kinda crappy so far, I'm trying to edit it so I can continue it but it's from quite a few months ago so the writing style is a bit off.


	2. really short janitor and food-obsessed friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin, while dealing with his feelings for Eren, is shown around by two food-obsessed crazies. He also learns a secret about Eren involving a certain shorty.

Surprised at this sudden flooding of emotions, I flusteredly replied, "Hi, I'm, uh, my name is Armin Arlert."

He smirked at the bit of pink painting my cheeks and shook my hand. "I'm Eren Yeager." He wore T-shirt that was reminiscent of the front of TitanMart, and I assumed that was the normal uniform for them. I felt too dressed up for the job, though I only wore my normal clothes: a tee shirt with the name of my favorite band, black jeans and a beanie. "First of all, let's get you into the uniform," he said, confirming my thoughts.

He handed me the trademark TitanMart shirt: forest green with a symbol on the front they called 'the wings of discounts'.

I sighed and slipped into the cramped men's room that smelled heavily of cleaning products. I quickly changed into the uncomfortable shirt and tried to leave before anyone else could see me, it would be awkward to meet one of my coworkers in the bathroom. But I was too late. A short man with dark hair and a snarky look walked in carrying a mop and a bucket. _Do you really_ _need to clean this bathroom again? I don't think anything could smell any more like cleaning products,_  I thought.

I tried passing by the small man I assumed was a janitor, but he stopped me with his arm. "Hey, you know you you're not supposed to be in here while I'm cleaning." He stopped, looking up at me with an intense grimace. "Wait, you're the new kid, aren't you?" A slight grin flashed on his face. "Well listen here, new guy, I will not tolerate any kind of uncleanliness. If I see you litter... I'll have you know I know 11 kinds of martial arts."

I furrowed my eyebrows and pushed the janitor out of the way, then finally escaped the toxic bathroom smell. I saw Eren outside the door waiting for me. The instant I saw him I smiled, excited to talk to him more. _God, I'm so pathetic,_ I thought. "Sorry I took so long," his gaze rose from the linoleum tiles on the floor. "but did you know there's a crazy midget janitor working here?" I added.

He chuckled. "Don't pay attention to Levi. He's just a bit obsessed about being clean." Eren put a hand behind his head, and laughed awkwardly. I looked at the ground, biting my lip, trying not to think about how cute he looked doing that. _Only 10 minutes into the job and I already have a crush. I can't believe myself._

After an awkward silence, Eren said, "so I should probably tell you what we do in this job, shouldn't I?" He brushed a chocolate colored lock of hair off his face, revealing his eyes to be a stunning green color I hadn't noticed before. _Wow, he's just getting hotter by the second! How does God allow anyone to be this hot?_

Eren led me to the front where the checkout counters were. "So this is where we bag things, but you won't have to do that for a while. If it looks like someone needs help with their bags you can..." I stopped listening when I realized that when he talked, sometimes he looked down at his shoelaces shyly and instead of listening I stared at his pretty eyes and beautifully tanned skin. _Armin stop,_ I told myself. _No,_ I replied.

When he stopped talking, he looked up at me again expectingly, like he'd asked a question. _Crap,_ I thought. I decided to just nod my head slightly.

"Okay," he said, offering no explanation of what he'd asked. "Here they are now. They're going to give you the rest of the tour, I'm going to go on break." _No! I picked the wrong choice!_ I died slightly when he left but I let it go, knowing there was no way I could explain myself if I called after him.

"Hey, new kid," I heard a female voice behind me and saw a brunette with a high ponytail and a shorter kid with a buzz cut tied to her hip.

I nodded, my blonde hair bobbing with my head. "That's me," I answered.

"I'm Sasha and that's Connie," said the girl, gesturing to her friend. "I guess we're going to show you around."

Sasha and Connie exchanged a lot of glances and whispers when showing me around the store. I didn't catch any of the conversation but I could guess it was about me.

"Guys, what's up? What are you whispering about?" Sasha got a terrified look that she inadvertently shared with Connie.

"Uhh.. Nothing? Err..."

Connie interrupted her struggle. "Armin, do you like Eren?"

I did not expect that. What would they think of me if I told them? Having a crush on a guy I met maybe half an hour ago? Let alone the fact that he was a guy? "N-no--"

"Dude, we saw you checking him out. It was pretty obvious." Connie said.

I felt my face heat up and knew it was totally red. "I-I..."

"Don't worry. We're not judging you or anything. We're just..." he looked at Sasha, "worried."

"Why?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Well... Eren and Levi kinda have a thing going on."

My heart broke at that moment. I knew I only met him a few minutes ago but... hearing that was not what I expected. No wonder he defended Levi. Also... Levi looked at least 20.

"Oh," was all I said.

"Sorry, new guy." Sasha comforted, putting a hand on my shoulder. She looked behind her at the shelves. Trying to cheer me up, she said, "we can tell you all the best places to steal food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one has been revised although it's still pretty horribly written. I promise, things will start picking up around chapter 6. If not, I may need to rewrite the whole thing.


	3. scary boxing sister and sarcastic rival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin meets Eren's sister and "rival". He also learns a bit about Eren's relationship with the janitor.

I sighed as I watched Connie and Sasha keep stealing various food items from the shelves.

"Guys, the store's gonna open soon, shouldn't you teach me what to do?" They looked up from the baguette they were sharing.

"Oh, yeah," Connie replied with a full mouth.

"Fine. Let's go," Sasha said, gulping down the bite and handing Connie the rest of the bread.

Connie threw it in the trash "for later". I wasn't sure what that meant but it kind of disturbed me.

Sasha and Connie led me to the storage room. "This is where all the stuff comes from. It says what it is on the top of the box. So -- here. I'll take these three boxes of chips 'cuz they're already on the cart. And -- follow me. We just take these to the isle where the chips are and put them where they go." She led me to the chip isle. "Then just open the box and put the chips on the shelf. That easy. And remember to put the newer ones in front of the older ones."

I rubbed my head -- this job, along with the people, would take some getting used to. I wasn't sure if Sasha taught me correctly so I made a mental note to ask someone later. But as the opening time crept closer, I could tell Sasha I was good for now. She told me I could just shelve things for now and I would learn the other things later.

"Oh, and watch out for Mikasa." Connie noted.

I didn't know what that meant until I got back into the storage room. A black haired girl was carrying three boxes by herself with no help from the cart. I could also see that Eren was there with her, struggling with one box.

The girl spotted me and instantly says, "you must be the new kid. I'm Mikasa, the master boxer." She made a face at Eren and he just scowled. "I'm also this one's sister."

"What does it mean to be a boxer?" I asked her, imagining her in boxing gloves.

"Oh, I bring boxes from out there." She pointed to a door on the other side of the room. "And put them on carts. Very interesting work."

Eren, who had been intensely concentrated on lifting that one box, realized I had been staring at him and smiled weakly at me. I moved my gaze to the floor then to Mikasa. "I'm just shelving today, I guess." Mikasa nodded.

"Eren should help you. He's no help in here anyways." He frowned at his sister, but put down the box he was struggling with to grab a cart.

"Fine," he mumbled. And suddenly I remembered what Sasha and Connie had said about Eren and the janitor.

Disappointed and now dreading the time I had to spend with Eren, I stared at the ground quietly while walking beside him.

"So, you excited for this job?" Eren tried to fill the silence.

"Kinda," I mumbled, not really in the mood for talking. "I mean, it doesn't sound very exciting." Eren laughed a bit at that.

We talked for a while, I asked him about the job, the different departments, who works what shifts, things like that. We finished one cartful and as we were heading from the storage room a second time, I meet one of Eren's friends. In a strange way.

I was looking at the ground, and didn't see the guy running towards us. Before I knew it, I was on the ground with boxes on top of me.

"Ouch," I muttered, looking up.

"Yeager, watch where you're going!" I saw a sandy-haired boy with an undercut standing above me.

Eren replied, "you're the one who was running straight towards us!" I rubbed my head, and sat up. Eren and the other guy didn't seem to notice me, and instead went on fighting.

 _Fine, I'll get up on my own. It would've been nice to be helped up by either one of you, who are the reason why I fell down in the first place, but I'll just get up by myself, that's fine._ I sighed as I stood up.

"Hey, is that the new guy?" Undercut guy practically shouted into my ear.

"Yep, that's me," I said. I knew I was going to have to get used to being called 'new guy' for a while.

"Cool. Name's Kirstein, Jean Kirstein." He smiled an odd smile and slapped me on the back. "So newbie? You gettin' to know the place?"

"A little, I guess." I replied shyly, hoping to _Jesus_  that I wouldn't have to talk to all these people everyday because they were sure annoying.

"Well you'd better or you're in for some real trouble from Smith--"

"Hey, just shut up and leave Armin alone!" Eren yelled.

Jean got a smug look on his face, and looked behind Eren. I followed his gaze to... Levi.

I sighed. _Not Eren's boyfriend. Please, why me?_

Eren turned around and jumped. "Ahh! What the heck, stop sneaking up on me like that!"

"Shut up, I don't care what you think, brat. Now get back to cleaning." Levi said, then turned to leave. _What!? That didn't sound at all like a conversation between boyfriends!_

"Hey, uh, Eren?" I blurted out when I knew the janitor was out of earshot.

"What?" he practically yelled, a bit over the edge. I couldn't tell if it was because of me, Jean, or the janitor.

"Are you two dating?" I asked.

"No! What? Are you crazy? Why would you--" snickers that sounded like certain food-loving freaks came from behind a shelf, "... think that? I'm not gay! And even if I _was_ I wouldn't date someone so old!"

_Oh crap. Not only is he not dating Levi, he isn't gay and possibly homophobic. This could be worse than I thought._

"Yeah, this is a strict 'no homo' workplace." Jean added, suddenly laughing his idiotic face off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I really hate this chapter. The attempt at humor is horrible and it took me forever to change all the present-tense to past, because for some reason I couldn't remember how to write consistently. But I'm trying to hurry through these first chapters' revisions so I can continue it from where I left off.


	4. the incident in the janitor's closet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin meets a pair of lesbians, who have some strange things to say about Levi and Eren. Then he's off to confront Erwin about it.

"Oh." I gulped. So much for accidental spontaneity. After hearing more snickers, and not knowing what else to say, I stormed off in the direction of Connie and Sasha. I think Eren might've said something, but I ignored it.

"Sasha, Connie, you jerks! Come back here!" I went searching for them. I finally found them in a nearby clothes rack, laughing their butts off.

"No homo! That's priceless!" Sasha giggled.

"He was all like, 'I'm not gay'!" Connie responded.

I slid the clothes apart to reveal them both. "You guys suck!" I yelled. "How could you tell me a lie like that!?"

Sasha and Connie stopped laughing, but we're still smiling widely.

"It wasn't a lie! Eren and Levi aren't dating, but they do have a 'thing' going on," Sasha smirked.

"What?" I said, still very confused.

"Eren's gay," answered Connie. He grinned at Sasha. "Why we say this is because we saw Eren and Levi both come out of the janitors closet," Connie was talking through his laughter now, "they both looked really flustered and red, it was hilarious." Sasha started laughing too now.

"What?" But, Levi was still, like, at least 20.

Sasha and Connie both nodded.

"Go ask Ymir and Historia, I think they both saw what we saw." I didn't know who Ymir and Historia were, but decided it was my best bet.

"Thanks," I mumbled, and walked off.

But there were a lot of workers around, and I had no idea who those two were. _I guess I'll have to use my smarts this time,_ I thought.

One thing I had learned from everyone (mostly Eren) my first day was that there were three groups in this job. The first group was the shelvers and boxers, and they included myself, Eren, Mikasa, Jean, Sasha, and Connie. They were the "newbies", the lowest on the food chain. Then there was Mike, Moblit, Petra, Aurou, Eld, and Gunther, the baggers. They were the best ones, the vets. And lastly there are the second group. They're in between. They do odd jobs around the store, and help everyone do their work. This group included everyone else, that I didn't recognize. I had heard that Reiner, who I knew from gym class, worked at Titan Mart, so he had to have been in that third group. I spotted him easily, and hoped the ones I was looking for were with him.

"Newbie!" A freckled girl shouted when she saw me.

Everyone else looked my way.

"Hey, guys. Can I talk to Ymir and Historia for a second?" The freckled one glanced toward the others who nodded at her.

"Sure." She grabbed a short blonde girl's arm and pulled us away from the others.

"What, newbie?" She asked harshly.

"Well... It's about Eren." I said, looking down at my feet.

Ymir chuckled. "Did you hear about him and Levi?" Historia's face got red. I could tell she was usually very helpful and nice, and could talk when you needed her, but with Ymir around she allowed her to do all the talking. Especially in this case.

"Yeah," I mumbled. "I was just wondering if you saw the same thing as Sasha and Connie."

Ymir snickered, "Well, did they see Erwin?"

My head shot up and my eyes met hers. "What?"

"Obviously not. Well, we saw Levi and Eren come out, but about five minutes later, so did Erwin."

"Hello," I heard behind me. I recognized the voice instantly, it was easy to remember because it sounded just like a big ball of angry.

"Jean!" I yelled. "Don't just sneak up behind people like that."

Jean frowned, ignoring me. "So what about Erwin?"

Ymir sighed. "Ask the newbie," she said, taking Historia back to the others.

Jean turned back to me. "So..?" He said, expecting me to tell him what we were talking about.

"Erwin, Eren, and Levi all came out of the closet," I began.

***

"Wow," Jean said as we walked to Erwin's office. I had told him what Ymir had said (after he repeatedly prompted me to do so) and he forced me to come with him and confront Mr. Smith about it.

"So... why are you so worried about it anyways?" I asked, suspicious. "You don't have... feelings for Eren, do you?" I added jokingly.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "What? No! Why would you think that?" He said, but his sudden flustered tone of voice and appearance was suspicious.

I smirked. "Suure."

"No, I--" we walked past the front doors, and they opened. At first I thought it was just a glitch or something, but then I saw a brunette kid with freckles standing before us.

He panted. "Sorry I'm late, I had to drop my sister off at soccer-- hi Jean." He gave a half smile and a small wave in Jean's direction.

Jean smiled back, but not in the same matter. The subtle differences in the way they acted around each other made me curious and suspicious as to what their relationship actually was.

"Oh, hi, you must be the new guy. Armin, right? I'm Marco." He greeted, shaking my hand and giving me a large smile.

"Hi, Marco. You wanna join me and Jean?" I asked.

"What were you doing?" He looked at Jean. Marco seemed like the kind of person who would talk to you, but would rather talk to his friends. He wasn't really comfortable talking to strangers, but he was good at hiding it.

"Jean wanted to talk to Erwin. I'm not sure you wanna know why," I laughed at Jean. Marco raised an eyebrow.

"Let's just go," Jean muttered.

***  
When we got to Mr. Smith's office, Marco had finally got the information out of us.

Jean looked to his right at Marco, then at me to his left, a wary look on his face. He knocked on Erwin's door, and the boss opened it almost immediately.

"Look, Mr. Smith, I'm sorry but we need to know. You know we have a strict no-dating policy here. Plus, Eren is a minor--"

Erwin just laughed, stopping Jean's words in their tracks. "I knew you'd ask about it sooner or later. Levi threatened me about it, but I guess now that you know.... I can tell you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole Eruriren subplot really bothers me. But I don't want to really change it at the moment, so it's staying. Also, wow I really dislike writing Marco so I think after this chapter I'll just have Jean leave to go on a date with Marco or something, which will probably be the extent of the JeanMarco in this story.


	5. trust and off-brand coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin learns the truth about Eren and Levi. And the workplace may or may not be strictly no-homo. Plus, he has a pretty deep conversation with Eren.

Erwin is strange person. He is usually stoic, silent and strict. But when he's around Levi or talking about him, he lets himself and his emotions loose.

"I knew you'd ask about it sooner or later. Levi threatened me about it, but I guess now that you know.... I can tell you."

Jean gulped.

"Me and Levi are dating."

Jean gulped even harder.

Erwin chuckled. "I'm gonna give it to you straight. We were... making out in the closet. Eren came in -- I'm not sure why -- and Levi threatened to tell everyone Eren was dating Jean if he told anyone about us. He said that we couldn't tell anyone because of our policy, but you guys understand that, don't you?" He winked at all three of us. Then he shook his head. "The whole thing's kind of a train-wreck if you think about it."

Jean raised his eyebrows at the mention of his name (and the fact it involved Eren and him dating), and he seemed very uncomfortable. I wasn't sure if he hated or loved Eren, or both.

"So... You're gay? So you're accepting of gay relationships?" Marco was basically jumping out of his seat. He glanced at Jean, then attacked him with a hug.

"Uggh-- Marco, not in front of everyone--" his face got red. That I did not expect.

I smiled, a bit awkwardly, as Marco kissed Jean on the nose before regaining his composure and sitting down.

"Yeah..." Erwin replied, a bit creeped out at Marco's public display of affection. "Now get out of my office, I have work to do."

We rushed out of Erwin's office.

"I'm gonna go find Eren," I told Jean and Marco.

"Okay, can I come--" Jean tried pushing Marco off of him. "Marco, just because Erwin knows doesn't mean you can get all PDA on me."

Marco frowns at Jean, his freckles lowering a bit on his cheeks.

"Fine," Jean replied, then quickly stole a kiss on Marco's speckled cheek, "I'm gonna be right back, okay? Go do some work, or you'll be fired," he smiled and followed me to the boxing room.

We walked in silence back to where Eren was. I was very suspicious of how Jean acted with Eren, like he had something to hide. At first I thought it was a crush, but now I wasn't so sure. I wanted to ask him, but I did't think he would answer me. Even if he did want to confide his feelings in me, I'm not sure he even knew his feelings in the first place.

We stepped into the room, and saw that Mikasa was there, but not Eren.

"Jean? Why are you here? Are you trying to flirt with me again?" She asked. It sounded like it would be a joke, but her tone of voice said she was very serious. She hadn't even noticed me.

"Hey Mikasa, where's Eren?" he ignored her question.

"He's in isle three, shelving things," she muttered, then continued doing her job. I could tell she didn't like Jean all that much.

"Thanks, Mikasa." I said, and we walked toward isle three. I decided to ask Jean about Mikasa, if not Eren. "So you flirted with the Master Boxer?" I laughed.

He hit my shoulder a little too hard to not mean "yes".

We found Eren quickly, but I was scared to talk to him, let alone apologize. But I sighed and Jean pushed me forward.

"Hey, Eren... sorry about what I said earlier. I overreacted a bit." I muttered.

He smiled at me, and said, "It's fine. You really don't know me that well, so I understand."

I was hurt at that statement, but that's when I realized we'd only known each other for maybe all of three hours. I sighed to myself.

"You wanna help me shelve things?" he asked, not out of niceness, but excitement. He wanted to get to know me better. I nodded and he turned to Jean. "You can leave, gay horseface. Go kiss your boyfriend or something." I almost laughed. He had meant to make fun of Jean for calling him gay, but that was a big mistake.

"Okay," Jean said before repressing his need to punch Eren in the face and going to find Marco.

"You okay?" I giggled. He rubbed his head, making a disgusted face at where Jean used to be. "This place is really dramatic," I add.

"You'd better get used to it," he groaned.

***  
We kept shelving for what felt like forever. We made small talk, I told him that I'd lived in this town my whole life and never seen snow or the ocean. He told me he moved here two years ago from North Dakota with his sister. After a while, it was time for his break and I decided to eat with him. We stopped at the deli and got some off-brand coffee. We sat at a table near the front of the store and talked more about each other.

"I've never been out of the state, so I guess my dream is to see the world." I told him when he asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. He smiled and sipped his coffee. "What about you?"

He looked at his hands in thought. "I've always just planned on joining the army -- ever since my mom died." He looked like he was opening up an old wound. I didn't expect him to continue -- we'd just met, after all -- but he did. "She was killed in the war. My father never talks to me or Mikasa. We keep moving around for his job -- this is actually the place we've stayed longest -- and I want to find something to belong to. I think my dream is to... find something to protect." His frown now hid a smile. He was confident, and he seemed glad he confided in someone.

I decided to share something, so he wouldn't doubt the trust between us. "My parents died when I was little. They were in a plane crash. My grandfather raises me now. I don't have any brothers or sisters, just me. My grandfather barely has enough money for necessities for me and him, but he's happy working for us. That's why I got this job, because I know I probably won't have enough money to get into college, but I wanna travel a little before I die, you know? That's really my goal. I wanna do what my parents never got to."

We both stopped, not knowing what to say. His green eyes threatened to drop tears and I could feel my blue eyes staring too deeply into them. I dropped my gaze to my coffee and quickly pretended to be very interested in it. I still couldn't believe he would tell me something like that.

"How's it going, Yeager?" I saw Jean and Marco, and shifted seats so they could sit next to each other. I smirked because I saw a glint in Jean's eye that told me he was going to have some fun with Eren. I was right.

Jean grinned at Marco, the freckled kid having no idea what was going to happen. Jean smashed his lips into Marco, his arms wrapping around Marco's head. Marco's eyes widened in surprise, but he went with it and kissed his boyfriend back.

Eren's eyes widened, surprised that the thing he had been teasing Jean for this entire time was true. He blushed into his hand and didn't say anything.

It was one of the funniest things I'd seen in a while.

If only we hadn't been in sight of the door. If only the CEO of the company, Mr. Reiss, hadn't walked in at that exact moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually kinda like this chapter. I still don't like the way I write Marco at all.


	6. the king of titanmart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin witnesses a lot of homophobic discrimination in the workplace.

Mr. Reiss didn't say anything at first.

Jean and Marco instantly knew something was wrong and broke their kiss. But it was too late.

"Mr. Reiss, I--" Marco started.

"I don't want your explanation. You're both fired!" His mouth was held in a tight frown.

Marco looked devastated. He looked at Jean, and closed his eyes before giving a short sigh and standing up. "Mr. Reiss, it was my fault. I came onto Jean. I deserve the blame. I should be fired." He swallowed shakily.

Mr. Reiss looked at him skeptically, pausing for a while to cause tension between everyone. "Fine. I won't fire squinty-eyes over here. But I don't want you in my sight anymore. Get out." Marco scurried out the door, and ran around the building and out of sight. "Disgusting," the CEO muttered as he headed away from us towards Mr. Smith's office. It was obvious he wanted us to hear it.

Jean waited until he was out of sight and ran out the door. I followed him and Eren was close behind.

"Marco...?" Jean yelled.

Marco was sitting against the wall next to the door, sobbing. Onlookers gave weird looks but kept moving.

"Marco!" Jean shouted, rushing over to hug his boyfriend. Tears were threatening to show on his face. "I'm so sorry," he whispered in his ear. Me and Eren went over to sit on the other side of Marco.

"No, I'm sorry, Jean. I shouldn't have done something so reckless."

"Marco. You don't need to apologize. It was my fault, I was the one who was reckless." He sighed, hugging Marco tighter.

I looked over at Eren, who was still new to the whole 'Jean being gay' thing. He looked very uncomfortable.

I patted Jean's back, "Jean, we should go back inside before the CEO gets back."

Jean hesitated, but nodded, apologizing again to his boyfriend. He pecked Marco on the cheek before standing up, rubbing the tears from his eyes, and stepped back in the store.

Jean gave Mr. Reiss a strange look as he passed, but he didn't seem to notice. Jean continued into the boss' office, not bothering to knock. "Mr. Smith, could I please go on sick leave? I--" he stopped when he saw Erwin packing things into a box.

"Ask Mike. I got demoted."

***  
"Yeah, I know. Mr. Reiss is _really_ homophobic. Poor Historia." Jean said once we were sitting down again. Mike didn't let him go home sick, so he couldn't see Marco until his shift was over. When I gave him a confused look, he explained, "Mr. Reiss is Historia's dad."

I sighed. _Why is there so much drama on the day I get here? Am I bad luck? Or is it always like this? Next thing you know there's gonna be a robbery._

"Yeah. Poor Historia."

***  
Jean had to work with us for the rest of his shift. So we went off to the storage room to ask Mikasa what she needed help with.

"Hi Mikasa," Jean sighed.

Mikasa looked up, ready to criticize Jean but stopped when she noticed the sad look on his face and the absence of Marco on his hip. "What happened?"

Jean brought his brown eyes to meet Mikasa's concerned gaze. He gulped. He seem devastated, not at all how I thought he would react. When I first met him earlier that day he seemed like someone with only one emotion: anger. But I guess every person is complex in their own way. They act differently in respect to different people, and you can't just categorize them into one type of person.

Eren finally answered for Jean, who couldn't seem to keep his composure long enough to speak. "Marco got fired. Not sure why Jean is so worked up about it, though."

"It's all my fault! If only I hadn't been trying to prove a point... Marco needs this job to help pay the bills! His mom has to raise him and his sister all on her own and Marco just wanted to help her. Now no one will hire him, that monster is so powerful in this town, I'm sure every business owner in the state knows what happened!" He yelled, getting a bit too close to Eren.

Eren brought his hands up in defense. "Look, I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean anything by it."

Mikasa stood and stepped over to Jean, and put a hand on his shoulder. He tensed a bit from her touch but didn't object. "Jean, come sit down." He looked up at her and shook his head.

"No, I just need some cooling down. I'm fine, just leave me alone." He brushed Mikasa's hand away and walked out.

Mikasa looked between Eren and myself, looking for an answer to what happened, but neither of us knew.

***

"Eren? Can I ask you something?"

Eren lifted his head from a low shelf. "Sure?"

I swallowed, I knew it might be too personal but I needed to know. "What's your relationship with Jean?"

He didn't answer for a bit, then moved his gorgeous eyes to look back at the shelf. "Isn't it obvious? We're arch enemies," he muttered, trying not to add any emotion to his answer.

I ignored the obvious lie and went back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually really love the ending to this chapter. Now it's time for me to start continuing the story.


End file.
